FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Schools across Fresno Unified are sharing an important message with students – their words have power.<\/p>\n
At Hidalgo Elementary School, students gathered for an anti-bullying presentation.<\/p>\n
They discussed different terms such as “stereotypes” and watched videos about bullying.<\/p>\n
One video showed the impact words had on a plant over an extended period of time.<\/p>\n
The plant that was complimented thrived while the one that had mean things said to it started to droop.<\/p>\n
It was eye-opening for third grade student Camila Cervantes.<\/p>\n
“I learned to not bully anyone, not even a plant,” Camila said.<\/p>\n
Throughout the month, the school has focused on ways students can prevent bullying and to say no to drugs.<\/p>\n
Camilia says she feels she can intervene or ask for help.<\/p>\n
“If I see someone getting bullied, then I could tell a teacher, like report to someone,” Camila said.<\/p>\n
Camila’s teacher, Maria Barba, says she’s been giving her dual language immersion students inspiration to be kind.<\/p>\n
“So they’re loving it, because I always tell them it’s always good, like you could be the person that makes somebody else smile. You could be the reason why their day went from being bad to being good,” Barba said.<\/p>\n
The school has also taken part in decorating classroom doors with anti-bullying messages.<\/p>\n
Barba leaned into the popular saying “six, seven” and came up with 67 reasons students shouldn’t bully. Other doors had sayings like ‘Kick out bullying and drugs’ or ‘Hocus Pocus bullying is not our focus.’<\/p>\n
Barba says she hopes all of these lessons and activities will leave students with the lasting idea that one person can make a difference.<\/p>\n
“To always just be nice. Like, it doesn’t take a lot to just be nice,” Barba said.<\/p>\n
This week, students are taking part in an anti-bullying poster contest, so they get to draw their own poster.<\/p>\n
Events will continue throughout the end of the month.<\/p>\n
For news updates, follow Jessica Harrington on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2025 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n